bauhauswerk

Dear Coilers, the day came and the milestone was reached. This is my Coil article number 101!

Now you might ask why not celebrating 100th article like all others do?!

Well, I wanted to be different and I am half Dalmatian.

Dalmatia, a region of Croatia is known for its dog breed, which is known by the story about 101 Dalmatians. So that’s why I’ve chosen this number to be my milestone on Coil.

Since the very beginning it was a joy to create content for/on this platform and I have done my best to make it worth reading.

It still is the same joy for me to write here no matter what people say.

Thru this journey I’ve met many great people who spend their time writing and supporting other content makers. Not to write a name by name, but have to mention dear friends from the CBC as well as my Twitter friends.

I’d make a selection of few of my articles here, which I find the best from various reasons.

The first one is my first article on Coil, it simply had to be on the list!

Then there was a series of articles from Morocco. I’ve covered the whole trip with photos and videos posted daily as part of my Travel! series on Coil. Every evening, exhausted from the long day I’ve been writing posts, editing photos and videos and publishing them. It was very hard at that time but I’m so glad I did it.

From Istanbul, a city which inspires me with every step made there, I’ve brought you stories, photos and videos of Hagia Sophia and of Süleymaniye Mosque. If you haven’t, go ahead and enjoy in that amazing architecture...

An article about Licitar Heart means a lot to me. Licitar is a symbol of my birthplace and it means much more than just heart shaped gingerbread to the citizens of Zagreb. The article was followed by a video of making licitar heart by my friend, master jewler Mario Nokaj.

I have to mention my Brew! series of articles about beer. It was definitely the one which had positioned me as the beer guy on Coil. The series will continue together with the series about whiskies. But one of the articles from the series has to be mentioned separately, the one in which I have reviewed Double Chocolate Stout. That beer brewed by Young’s brewery became legendary among Coilers. Yes, that beer is brewed with real chocolate!

There were many other articles I’ve published on Coil. Some XRP themed, some were about economy and some social themed. Ive tried to give the best I could in them and I hope I haven’t disappointed you.

My next milestone is 1 year of writing on Coil so expect next jubilee post this summer.

I have to add one by the everlasting inspiration when quotes are needed to fill the gap...

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade but in the sunshine of life; & thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine. I will recur for proof to the days we have lately passed. On these indeed the sun shone brightly. – Thomas Jefferson

Dear Coilers, thank you for your support to Coil, and us content creators. I appreciate it much, I know many of my colleagues appreciate it as well.

Dear Coilers, series of articles about beer continues with the style which is not strongly defined nor too usual these days but it has very rich history.

Subscribers will be presented one beer from this style in Coil’s taproom.

OLD ALE – also called Aged Ale, Stock Ale, Strong Ale, Stale Ale, is style which was developed over 400 years ago.

Long ago, beers were brewed and served fresh as they had bad habbit to turn sour. Then hops were introduced which helped to preserve beer to last longer, before it was not good to drink, but brewers came to an idea of brewing hopped beer stronger in alcohol to make it last even longer.

Those beers were kept in barrels for months and were aged in the same time which gave the beer new flavour qualities.

As beer aged in barrels was stale, flat because it lost natural carbonation, it was usually mixed with fresh beer in pubs to add carbonation to it.

After the style was introduced to consumers (named double) it became very popular. It was followed with double double which was very strong and so expensive that the Queen Elizabeth I had forbidden its production, but somewhat later the style continued to be brewed.

Old ales were known for their special aromas. The reason why those aromas develop was discovered in 20th century.

In 1904, Niels Claussen from Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark, was investigating the differences between continental beers, fermented with one strain of yeast and British ales which had much more complex flavours.

He discovered that the strongest ales, in alcohol and flavours, were aged in wooden barrels for up to a year. He tried to replicate those ales but his brews, which used single strain of yeast, didn’t have the character of British ones. He wondered why and finaly discovered weird type of yeast which were infecting British brews.

He named that family of yeasts “British fungus” or Brettanomyces in Latin.

The wild fungi which were spoiling the brews were as a fact giving them appeal.

Old Ales differ a lot but share some common characteristics:

Aroma: Noticeably malty and sweet; Hints of fruity esters; May have notes of caramel, Dried fruit, Toffee, Nut or molasses; Little to no hoppiness

Flavour: Complex maltiness; Hints of caramel, molasses and nut; Possible notes of chocolate and roast; Noticeable bite of alcohol

Appearance: Ranges from light amber to dark reddish-brown; Head range from cream to light tan

Mouthfeel: Heavy/chewy body; Medium to full mouthfeel with little carbonation

Dear Coilers, new one from the Dram! series is here and it’s going to be in the form of a vlog.

Just an introduction into the world of whiskies where you will learn the meaning of the terms like single, blended, malt, grain, scotch... as well as try a single malt and blended scotch whisky.

This one is not a review of any whisky but a general introduction.

As I’m still in the process of moving to a new place, no technical “help” was used but it will get better.

https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=266584680243922824

Hey, do you know I’ve quit drinking?! I just have drinks for Coil exclusively, that doesn’t count as recreational drinking but as blogging.

Always drink responsibly, NEVER drink and drive and NEVER let alcohol affect your family, social and professional life!

Dear Coilers, in the second #wakeupandblog, a competition started by The Boss, I’m going to say a word or two about the Chickpeas article by Patricia.

You have probably met Pat, her articles are published often and are of those which get many upvotes.

Among other topics she coveres, she writes about food she makes from the ingredients. Believe it or not, we, Europeans, make our meals from ingredients not out of plastic bag! Im not joking, we really do!

Patricia suddenly decided to make a provocation by trying to promote healthy choices in diet. Like we dont have Dani Torres with her healthy smoothies! Isn’t that enough?!

Anyway, Pat came to an idea of making chickpeas (?!) snacks!

I have read her post till the end expecting a disclaimer saying that the snacks were made for birds not human, but no disclaimer was found 🤨

Her thing looks like this:

...if it were peanuts or pistachios I’d eat a bowl of it but chickpeas, lol, yeah as if...

When one wants snacks it means one wants any from the unhealthy choices we are offered in zillions in every store.

Lovely greasy potato chips, even greasier flips with peanuts, fried nuts in spicy shells full of carbs, nachos with beautiful dips full of sugar and lack in vegetables shown on the label...

Balanced diet excludes balance in snacks choices! – Thomas Jefferson

Balanced diet means that one can balance unhealthy snacks with salads as other meal.

People even eat broccoli, some even eat cauliflower! Why in the world would they eat healthy snacks if they already terrorize themselves with those?

Ask children, they are honest and always say what they really mean.

Offer them a plate of chickpeas snacks and boiled broccoli and a plate with chocolate, chips, flips... i wonder which one would they choose.

And now my own experience. I don’t eat snacks almost at all. My parents had the unwritten rule that there is no place for snacks in our home so I don’t have a habit of eating them.

The only time snacks were bought, were birthdays so can be offered to guests.

In those rare moments when I eat snacks, I choose the most unhealthy choices. More fat = more taste.

The same I suggest to others.

Imagine a person having a dozen pints of beer 🍺 yet avoiding peanuts because chickpeas are healthier?! 😃

Dear Patricia, you know I am tolerant and flexible, but even my tolerance has limits!

Im looking forward to your next recipe, which, hopefully, will include at least 20% of refined white sugar.

Dear Coilers, this is The article which is going to get more upvotes than any of my “poor quality” ones I post regularly.

It’s not about the quality but about marketing! – Thomas Jefferson

And here is a pic to make this article more artistic...

Thanks for reading,

Srdan

dear Coilers, I’ve been browsing through the photos stored on several discs and have found those I took in Sahara desert.

Photos from the Sahara trip and camels in them made me think about those amazing animals.

Camels, also called “ships of the desert” are the symbol of survival in the desert and have strong place in the culture of all desert nomads. They are ideal animals in places with long, dry and hot periods with rainfalls of as less as 50 mm per annum.

Nickname also resembles their walk which is like the motion of a rolling boat. They move both feet on one side of their bodies simultaneously, then both feet on the other. Riding it feels like being on a boat in slightly wavy sea.

Camels have two hoofed toes on each foot with a leathery pad under them which links the two toes. When camel walks, it spreads its toes as wide apart as possible to prevent their feet from sinking into the sand. The tough, leathery pads under their feet also allow camels to walk on stony, rough ground as well to withstand hot sand.

Camels are used for transportation and carrying goods as well as providing milk. Even their faeces is used as a fuel. Their milk is often only food source for nomads. Camel meat and wool are also used as it’s their blood which is consumed fresh or mixed with milk.

More camels one owns, higher in social table one climbs.

The adaptation of the camels to heavy conditions is remarkable. They can live where no other domestic animals can and are the only animals that can carry heavy loads of goods and travel for a long period of time without food or water.

If they are fed with green forage and the climate is not extremely hot and dry, they can survive without drinking water for several months.

When the conditions are extreme, camel may drink only every ten days but can lose 30 percent of the weight due to dehydration.

Camels have very low basal metabolism and genious water conserving adaptations.

They dont have to cool their body by losing water as they can withstand body temperature variations of over 5 degrees Celsius. The heat they accumulate during a hot day, they slowly lose during cooler night.

Their faeces is very dry and urine is concentrated which also is big help in preserving water.

Not just they don’t lose much water through respiration but they have the ability to restore water from the exhale!

BTW, there is no water in their humps but fat!

Dear Coilers, there was a live stream of a chat Patricia had with Ben Sharafian, CTO of Coil and some questions were asked and some answers were given...

Later that day we, Coil content makers had a discussion about what we’ve heard and The Boss even did a post about his views of the conversation and the meaning of the (possible) answers.

I’ve been writing on Coil for over half a year now and have noticed things which need improvement, many/most of which Coill team know about.

We have learnt that Coil is a team of about 30, 10 of which are engineers and are working on the platform to make it better and eventually move from beta phase. But we cannot see it sometimes. We simply cannot see the work behind but only the Coil page and its possibilities and options.

In the discussion I’ve come to a conclusion that in IT industry, Chief Officers should be people who do not understand the matter at all!

For example, Ben is co-founder and a CTO of Coil and knows his platform by heart. He knows what they are doing, what should they do and how are they going to do it. Because he understands the matter, he is too realistic in time frame and expectations.

As well, he most probably looks at the things through their priority and sets his team time frame which he knows is realistic.

But let us put me in the place of a CTO of Coil..!

The first thing would be making mobile editing to be at least decent!

Many people work on their laptops, especially when blogging, editing texts, photos or videos. But I myself try to do as much work possible on my phone.

With average of 14 hours and 20 minutes of using my phone per day, with 20 hours of use on Friday... you must admit I really DO use it much.

Considering I sleep almost every night for at least 4 hours, I also eat every now and then... I don’t have much time to open and work on my laptops.

Thats why I’d tell the team to make mobile editing user friendly as the very first thing on Monday after they have a coffee.

Coffee is essential so I wouldn’t let them skip it for the sake of work being done, that’s for sure.

On Tuesday I’d tell them about Coilers bitching for not having an up arrow ⬆️ to take them to the top of the page.

As I’m Coiling on my iPhone I dont need that function but believe it or not, there ARE people who use Andriod phones or Coil from laptops.

How hard can that be?! 2-3 lines of code to insert an arrow at the bottom right of the page. Im sure it is as simple as that!

Engineers wouldn’t oppose me because I am Chief Officer and a dictator. I‘d give them time frame to do it, of approximately from the morning coffee till the lunch break.

On Wednesday, if they’ve made the up arrow work, they would be able to play table football, air hockey and ping-pong the whole day. Some from the team would tell me that my way of leading the team is not good as I obviously don’t understand the matter (they were afraid to tell me yesterday but they couldn’t live without speaking it loud). I’ll just use the wisdom...

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. – Thomas Jefferson

After the lunch break I’d tell them that play time is over because I’ve come to a genious idea to add more colours possibilities. Coil doesnt have to be black and white only!

On Thursday I’d tell them to make Creators have options of organizing articles in subfolders. I’m sure that it’s not much of a work. You just have to write 2-3 lines of code and add some function buttons on creators page. Nothing is as simple as that. Maybe that up arrow only.

On Friday I’d start bitching about featured articles not being changed on regular basis. Because the NEWEST and TRENDING feed is full of the content of both good and bad quality, Coilers sometimes (often) can’t find the content of their inrerest (tags 🙄).

I’d make them change featured articles every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and every Friday new Coil’s staff picks have to be published.

I’d make them finish other work during their free weekends!

Dear Coilers, I’m sure that the first thing which crossed your mind after you’ve seen the topic was a ballet by Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski.

Swan Lake is the iconic classical ballet par excellence, which has probably been performed the greatest number of times to the highest number of spectators by the most prestigious ballet houses and troops worldwide in the history of ballet since it was first staged in 1877.

But this one is not about the ballet but the swans on Jarun lake, a complex of interconnected lakes by the river Sava in the part of the city where I live.

Jarun lake is beloved by the citizens of Zagreb and is packed with people during sunny weekends. It is one of the most visited spots by both locals and foreigners.

(There are wild ducks as well as many other bird species)

Jarun lake, also called the Zagreb sea, is one of the most beautiful and attractive lakes in the southwest of Zagreb, Croatia. Its crystal-clear water makes it the perfect place for swimming or sunbathing especially during summer days. You can do many activities there like rowing, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, biking or windsurfing. It is also a beautiful place for hiking or jogging, and the night life is not less exciting as there are several night clubs and bars.

But we who live in Jarun neighbourhood do not like aliens overcrowding our beautiful lake.

That’s why we love it during the winter time when there are not too many people and our swans are there.

Mute Swan (lat. Cygnus olor, Gmelin) is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and during winter time can reach the far north of Africa.

Adults are 120-150cm in length with a wingspan of about 200-240cm. They are among biggest flying birds with 9-12kg in weight.

The name Mute comes from them being not as vocal as other swan species, not because they are dumb.

Mute Swans form long-lasting pair bonds. Their reputation for monogamy along with their elegant white plumage has helped establish them as a symbol of love in many cultures.

They mate for life. However, changing of mates does occur infrequently, and swans will remate if their partner dies. If a male loses his mate and pairs with a young female, she joins him on his territory. If he mates with an older female, they go to hers. If a female loses her mate, she remates quickly and usually chooses a younger male.

Mute swans mate in the early spring. Male and female pairs may mate for many years. The female lays 5-6 eggs in a cup-shaped depression lined with down on a large mound of vegetation. The female and the male incubate the eggs for 36 to 38 days. The female spends more time incubating the eggs than the male. The male spends a lot of his time guarding the nest.

The chicks, or cygnets, are a downy brownish-gray. The male sometimes leads newly hatched cygnets down to the water while the female incubates the remaining eggs. The cygnets can swim and feed themselves shortly after hatching. Sometimes the cygnets ride on their mother's back. The cygnets fledge when the are 60 days old, but may remain with their parents until the next breeding season.

Not just they are flying birds but they can reach the speed of 80kph (50mph)

In 2017 a few swans were found dead on the lake Jarun and bird flu (virus H5N8) was confirmed.

Aristotle, Plato and Socrates all believed that swans singing prowess was heightened as death approaches, giving rise to the idea of the swan song, or the final performance.

During the Middle Ages, the mute swan was considered to be a valuable commodity and was regularly traded between noblemen.

For the subscribers there’s a video of the Swan Lake...

Dear Coilers, I’m sure you know for many challenges which were crashing the Internet during last couple of years. Some of them were for good cause, some of them were for the cause of collecting your data for things like the face recognition or whatever future tech developed to control the society.

Yet I’ve never participated in any. But the time came for me to be called out by my Dutch bro Niels so now I have to take part in one of the challenges. I’m not gonna be a challenge virgin anymore.

#thecoilchallenge is the initiative by RileyQ, more of which you can learn from the pic from the initial post by her.

So let me answer the questions Niels asked...

1. If you were the Prime Minister of Croatia, what's the first thing you would change in the country?

My friends always say that if I had only 5 minutes to govern my country, the population would decrese by 90% within those 5 minutes.

The first thing I would do would be changing the Constitution and making Croatia a dictatorships.

As Croatia is already a part of the dictatorship called European Union, my citizens wouldn’t see much of a difference.

That would give me the power to make the country be ruled in fair and honest way. At the moment we are the shining example of corruption and foreigners can learn from us about corruption from the very bottom to the very top.

Every corrupted person would be sentenced to swim across the Adriatic Sea and if any of them survived I’d let Italians decide what to do with them.

2. You receive one Million Euros, and have to spend it within one day. The way you spend it determines how people perceive you for the rest of your life. How would you spend it?

That is an easy question. After a few years of my dictatorship, citizens would erect the monument of me on the top of the Medvednica mountain which spreads over my birthplace and Croatian capital, Zagreb. I’d use those €1M to cover the monument in gold plating (if that wouldn’t be enough I’d collect monument tax for the cause).

That would be a BIG tourist attraction which would bring people and money to my country. And the taxes collected from the foreigners would be used to build new hospitals, schools and kindergartens. As an economist, and hopefully an intelligent creature, I try to think out of the box. First invest and then enjoy the fruits of the investment...

3. What's your most precious memory that involves beer/whiskey?

Huh, that one is hard. I have a few memories involving drinks. I thought to tell you one memory involving whisky and throwing up on a New Year when I was 14 years old but that wouldnt be appropriate for the platform which is not 18+ so I’ve decided to share my memory of the Carlsberg brewery. Ive visited it when I was in Kopenhagen, Denmark.

(The famous Elephant Gate of the Carlsberg brewery)

A visit to the brewery was on the top of my “to do” list there. In the end, they produce probably the best beer in the world. I took the tour alone and have enjoyed every moment there. If you ever get a chance to visit a brewery or a distillery, DO IT! You will fall in love with stuff they make and will start a wonderful journey which will, hopefully, not lead you to cirrhosis.

4. What's your idol?

That one is easy as well. Never in my life I had an idol but ERIC CANTONA. King Eric is The King of the world. He is one of the smartest and wisest people ever walked the muddy pitches of the Earth. Ok, he was a former professional footballer and a present actor. But for me he is much more than that. Im trying to find the words to explain it but I simply can’t because he is not just a man – he is Cantona!

https://youtu.be/wzSr7DoUlAI

Btw go and google Eric Cantona Quotes and see for yourself...

Now it’s time to pass the task to another Coiler. I choose Stefano and I’d like him to tell me...

The story about his FIAT UNO

What being a Milanista means to you?

You live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world (after Croatia), why Italians can’t make it great again?

Does the TA work in Crypto?

Dear Coilers, I am writing this article during 6th Whisky Fair Zagreb which is taking part 7-8th February 2020.

I have visited the Fair on the first day and on the second day I will just attend “open bottles” auction.

The Fair was devided into several sections, with 4 interconnected whisky sections in the middle of the hall, each offering different selection of bottles to taste.

Every visitor was given a Glencairn whisky glass at the entrance so can give it to a waiter to pour drams of the choice. Drams of 20ml were sold for very popular prices (compared to usual prices), starting from 75cents up to 17$.

Special whiskies were sold per bottle only or could be tasted on various workshops or in VIP Trezor, in which, only Very Important Persons we’re allowed to enter 🤫

To look more important, I will not tell you that my cousin is managing the Trezor 😃

https://youtu.be/F_llQtNBjqQ

(Trezor before the start of the food and whisky pairing session)

I have tasted a few, two of which I planned and wanted to taste and will cover them in separate articles from the “Dram!” series but I must say I’ve been drinking like a legend...

A special guest and a lecturer in one of the workshops was Billy Abbott who is The Whisky Exchange's whisky ambassador as well as a writer and educator who hosts whisky, beer and spirits tastings around the world. Formerly a computer programmer and trainer, he now talks about drinks rather than code.

His workshop name was: Exploration of Casks – the strange casks. An advanced level / masterclass workshop of the duration of 2 hours.

He was talking about which barrel to use, as it is one of the most important decisions which whisky producer has to make.

For years, almost all producers have been using bourbon and sherry barrels but influeces from around the world started to change it. During the workshop, different whiskies aged in non standard barrels were tested and the effects of those barrels were discussed...

Tasted whiskies were:

SPIRIT OF YORKSHIRE, Orange Sherry cask

STARWARD REFILL cask, Single Cask 2012, 7 Year Old TWE Exclusive, Australian Single Malt Whisky

BIMBER RECHARRED CASK SINGLE MALT WHISKY, Single Malt English Whisky

ICHIRO’S MALT MWR, Mizunara Wood Reserve, Japanese Blended Malt Whisky

KILCHOMAN 2012, STR Cask Matured 2019 Edition, Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky

MILK & HONEY 1 Year Old, That Boutique-y Malt Company, Israeli Spirit

In the end, the event was successful and I’m looking forward to attend the 7th Whisky Fair Zagreb next year. Untill then, I will try to post interesting blogs about whisky on Coil. My wish is to intrigue you to decide to enter the world of the water of life...

One more thing! ALWAYS DRINK RESPONSIBLY!!! Whisky is to be enjoyed in the way that it doesn’t interfere your family’s and social relations!